OPINION:
Among the many realities that face the American energy sector, one has been particularly vexing. It doesn’t matter how much American oil and natural gas we unlock through exploration or innovative technologies if we can’t get those commodities to market.
Whether it’s the “Keep it in the Ground” movement protesting pipelines or state officials throwing up regulatory roadblocks to energy infrastructure in general, the United States is behind in building the transmission capacity we will need to meet future energy demand.
To its credit, the Trump administration recognized this problem and has taken a number of actions to turn it around. Last month, the president signed two executive orders designed to remove roadblocks to pipeline construction. In announcing the orders, President Trump referred to “destructive permitting delays and denials,” which he characterized as part of “the war on American energy.”
While there may be some hyberbole in the president’s statements, he is onto something. The fact of the matter is that the United States isn’t building the necessary infrastructure to satisfy future demand for domestic energy. In fact, the U.S. Energy Information Administration recently reported energy consumption in the United States reached a record high in 2018. We’ve found the oil and gas. We know how to extract it. But without bold action on the rest of the supply chain, the United States will fail to meet its potential as a global energy powerhouse.
Consider the state of play for American energy. After more than 65 years of importing more energy than we consumed, the United States is on the verge of becoming a net energy exporter. New supplies of natural gas have been a major part of that transition, making the United States the unrivaled leader in global energy as well as a key part of the solution for climate change. That’s because natural gas has been largely responsible for America’s reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, dropping carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation in the United States to historic lows.
By helping us transition away from coal, natural gas helped reduce carbon emissions by 28 percent between 2005 and 2017 for power generation. And while the U.S. was experiencing significant production growth and saving billions in revenues through low energy prices, methane emissions from natural gas activity actually went down, dropping 15 percent at the same time production increased by half. That’s a record other fuels can’t match and a testament to the substantial investment by American energy companies in efficiency and innovation.
While the president deserves praise for his latest executive orders, his administration has more work to do in supporting the role of natural gas. The administration, for example, continues to tout the bailing out of aging coal-fired power plants as a win for America. It has repeated the line that natural gas pipelines supposedly have inferior cybersecurity protections as a way of emphasizing the value of coal. Unfortunately, those allegations not only ring hollow, but they undermine any effort to fully advance natural gas development. In a March economic report, the administration renewed its push for coal through a proposal for a “voluntary reserve program” that would “promote the grid’s resilience.” This despite a June 2018 report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. that said grid resilience is actually improving in spite of natural disasters and growing cybersecurity threats.
This also despite the reality that natural gas pipelines are leading the way on cybersecurity, with more than 50 natural gas and oil companies sharing cyber-threat intelligence with each other and the federal government through the Oil and Natural Gas Information Sharing and Analysis Center. That’s just one reason why Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) officials have praised natural gas pipeline operators for their cyber preparedness.
The president’s executive orders highlight the importance of developing the robust energy infrastructure that America needs to move confidently into the future. But the administration must be more consistent in its messaging. By accurately portraying the preparedness of natural gas infrastructure, and by avoiding putting down natural gas to prop up coal, the president can help to set American energy on a winning course.
• Jeff Kupfer, a former acting deputy secretary of energy in the Bush administration, is an adjunct professor of policy at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College and an adviser at Beacon Global Strategies.
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